April 7, 2006
ATHENS, Ohio - As the professional baseball seasons get underway, seven former Ohio Bobcats will appear on professional rosters to start the 2006 season.
Adam Fox and Cory Keylor will pick up where they left off in the 2005 season at the Double-A level. Fox, a 10th-round pick by the Texas Rangers in 2003, will return to the Frisco (Texas) RoughRiders where he played the last 46 games of the 2005 season. The third baseman hit .255 both at Frisco and with the low Class A Clinton (Iowa) LumberKings where he played the first 75 games of the year. Fox was a 2003 All-American and a two-time All-Mideast Region selection at Ohio.
Keylor, a 2001 14th-round selection by the Baltimore Orioles, will begin his second year with the Bowie (Md.) Baysox. The outfielder appeared in 48 games last year and hit .213 in 160 at-bats after spending three years with the high Class A Frederick (Md.) Keys.
Ohio also features two players at the Class A level to start 2006 in Adam Russell and Ben Crabtree. Russell, a sixth-round pick by the Chicago White Sox in 2004, has moved up to the high Class A Winston-Salem (N.C.) Warthogs after spending the last two years with the low Class A Kannapolis (N.C.) Intimidators. The right-handed hurler finished 9-7 in 2005 with a 3.78 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 24 starts.
Crabtree, who became Ohio's all-time hits leader last year as a senior, was a 26th-round draft choice of the Texas Rangers last June. He will begin his first full season in the minors with the Clinton LumberKings. The catcher hit .235 with 11 RBIs in 27 games in his first professional stop last year with short season Class A Spokane (Wash.) and helped the Indians to the Northwest League title. Crabtree earned All-American, All-Mideast Region and All-MAC honors as a Bobcat senior.
Three former Bobcats will also appear on rosters in the independent Frontier League to being the 2006 season. The Washington (Pa.) Wild Things will feature two former Bobcats this season in Mike Arbinger and Walt Novosel. Arbinger, who signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an undrafted free agent following his senior season of 2002, will begin his second year with the Wild Things after leading the team with a .317 average with 12 homers and 88 RBIs in 91 games in 2005. Arbinger was a 2002 All-American, All-Mideast Region and All-MAC pick.
Novosel, a 22nd-round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003, signed with the Wild Things earlier this week and will team with Arbinger this year after sitting out 2005 because of an arm injury. The southpaw finished a combined 4-1 with a 2.30 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 47 innings of work in stops with the rookie Missoula (Mont.) Osprey, short season Yakima (Wash.) Bears and low Class A South Bend (Ind.) Silver Hawks.
Brian Colopy is also expected to return the Chillicothe (Ohio) Paints in 2006. After completing his senior season with the Bobcats last year, the third baseman signed with the Paints in mid-season and hit .283 with two homers and 15 RBIs in 42 games and helped lead the Paints to the league championship series.
The affiliated teams will begin their 2006 seasons this week while the Frontier League will kick-off its campaign the last week of May.
